Mass Media and Framing of

European Scientific Journal March 2013 edition vol.9, No.
8 ISSN: 1857 7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857- 7431
THE FRAMING OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ON ISLAM

AND TERRORISM
Sofia Hayati Yusof, MA

University of Putra, Malaysia
Fauziah Hassan, MA
Islamic Science University of Malaysia
Md Salleh Hassan, PhD

Mohd Nizam Osman, PhD
University of Putra, Malaysia
Abstract
The role of media is to shape opinions and presenting a particular version as reality.
They also play an important role in structuring the audience perspectives about the issues that
happen around the world. For this matter, they are believed and expected to portray a fair
picture on any issues occur both at the local and international level. However, in portraying
Islam, especially after the September 11 attacks, a number of research found that the
International media tend to negatively depict Islam by associating it with terrorism. Issues
concerning the way international media, specifically in the US and UK, equate Islam with
terrorism have been tremendously debated. Research showed that after the September 11
attack, terrorism has been repeatedly associated with Islam by most of the international
media. There is a perception that international media play a vital role in creating a
relationship between Islam and terrorism in their media that leads to the formation of labels
on Islam and terrorism. However, many think that the death of Osama Bin Laden would end
the negative association between Islam and terrorism made by Western media for so many
years after Sept 11. Based on this view, the researchers will be conducting a content analysis
on two international news magazines looking at the tendency patterns in labeling Islam
associated with terrorism after the death of Osama Bin Laden and also looking at the
discourse analysis by extracting any recurrent themes emerged from the articles selected.
Keywords: Media labeling, Media framing, Islam, terrorism, media
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European Scientific Journal March 2013 edition vol.9, No.8 ISSN: 1857 7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857- 7431
Introduction
The role of media is to shape opinions and presenting a particular version as reality.
Media are also believed and expected to portray a fair picture on any issues occur both at
local and international level. However, in portraying Islam especially after the September 11
attacks, a number of research found that International media tend to negatively depict Islam
by associating it with terrorism (Zulkifli, 2009; Winegar, 2008; Gerges, 2003). Issues
concerning the way international media, specifically in the US and UK, equate Islam with
terrorism have been tremendously debated. Research showed that after the September 11
attack, terrorism has been repeatedly associated with Islam by most of the international
media. Dr. Natasha Hamilton-Hart, a lecturer in Singapore National University once said that
the definition of terrorism at the moment is too narrow because it only depicts Islam and
Muslims in an irrelevant manner (Berita Harian, June 5th 2008:10).
The attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and Pentagon on September, 11th
2001 have given a massive impact to the whole world. The impact on the United States (US)
was much bigger in various aspects including economics and military as well as the US
credibility as the most powerful nation in the world. This has led the US to take revengeful
actions against those who were targeted to be responsible for the attack, thus making this an
opportunity for the US to do anything on anyone they dislike despite of disagreement made
by International society against the US (The Star, Jan 19th, 2002:15). The US has made an
initiative hunting and targeting any parties involved in a so called terrorism. The first step
taken besides arresting few targeted individuals was to attack Afghanistan in which the ruler
was claimed to have an affiliation with terrorists who were responsible for the September 11
attacks.
In relation to this, the issue of fighting against terrorism has been the most important
agenda prioritized by international media. The mass media in the US and its counterpart, UK
such as Cable News Network (CNN), British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), some
mainstream news magazines namely Newsweek and TIME as well as other media have
played a significant role in influencing the whole world to morally support the US in
protesting against terrorism. Obviously, western countries are prone to identify terrorism with
certain groups that are labeled as extremists, militants or Muslim extremists (Zulkifli, 2009).
Winegar (2008) said that such an effort today is seen to focus on Muslim groups which
coincidentally accused to be responsible for the September 11 attacks, and this badly affects
the whole Muslim society worldwide due to an accusation made by the US government on
Islam through most of western media for the tragedy at the World Trade Center.
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Problem Statement
Mahathir (2003) claimed that there is an extension of negative stereotype,
discrimination and hatred towards Muslims by International media, especially after the
September 11. Hashim (2009) conducted a full content analysis on the labeling attitude of
Islam and terrorism in US TIME news magazine for six month period right after the attacks
found that the labeling attitude tendency in this magazine was remarkably high. He also
proposed on a lengthier and more thorough content analysis done on this news magazine for
more precise results.
In analyzing discourse elements of the media portraying issues related to terrorism,
Picard and Paul D. Adams in Biernatzki (2002) has displayed how media practitioners
namely journalists in their reporting of violent acts, have options in choosing words that are
either straightforward descriptions, on the other hand, or that contain implicit judgments
about the act, on the other. While Kumar (2008), in his content analysis study of western
media found five negative discursive frames that have been employed to represent Muslims,
Arabs and the Middle East post September 11. These frames are:
1) Islam is a monolithic religion.
2) Islam is a uniquely sexist religion.
3) The Muslim mind is incapable of rationality and science.
4) Islam is inherently violent.
5) The West spreads democracy, Islam spawns terrorism.
Research Questions
1) What is the tendency of the labeling made by the selected media on Islam and
terrorism after the death of Osama Bin Laden?
2) How the media frame Islam and relationship with terrorism after the death of Osama
Bin Laden?
Research Objectives
1) To determine a tendency of selected international mainstream printed media in
revealing an attitude of labeling Islam and terrorism.
2) To investigate on the framing made by the media on Islam and its relationship with
terrorism right after the death of Osama Bin Laden.
3) To identify the themes appear in the labeling of Islam by these selected media after
the death of Osama Bin Laden.
Significance Of Study
The researchers believe that this study will be able to offer some insightful ideas for
the authorities in media management both at local and international levels in providing proper
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guidelines for more fair news coverage made by journalists especially after the death of
Osama Bin Laden. It is hoped that this study would open up the eyes of the policy makers to
reform a group of journalists who are non-bias and not aligned with Newsmakers per se. This
study would also shed a light into hegemonic or ideological reason behind any policy making
attempted by the International authorities towards Islam and terrorism where it is hoped to
finally contribute to the body of knowledge.
Literature Review
The role of media is not only about presenting and depicting information and images;
they also have the ability to shape opinions, and presenting a particular version as reality.
Based on this view, all parties whether the terrorists or the authorities have put an effort to
cooperate with media since they are regarded as the sole agent in giving information and
instilling awareness to the society about some crucial issues exist (Aly, 2007). According to
Walter Laqueur (2002), the media play a major role in making any terrorist operation a
success and this was one of the main reasons for the shift from rural guerrilla to urban terror
in the 1960s. For instance, many think that September 11 was a thunderstorm in a blue sky, or
that it was related to what has been called by Samuel Huntington (1992), among others, a
clash of civilizations. However, the storm became more complicated when the western
media came into place with a lot of forays in minds by relating it with Islam.
The incident has initiated an accusation made openly by the US towards Islamic
religion and Muslims through the media. The manipulation of such incident was creatively
done in creating negative stereotypes of Islamic countries like Afghanistan and Iraq in which
these countries and few others in the Middle East region have been labeled as terrorists (Noor
Mayudia et. al, 2010).
Terrorism, according to Silke (2003) is the term used to show a violated act and the
act is considered as violated and violent due to its nature which against the norm and human
rights. Cassidy (2008) claims that the war on terrorism will have lasted years, making it much
longer than the American Civil War or World War II. Current American national security and
military strategy documents, in fact, frame this war as a protracted struggle, one which may
see persistent conflict lasting several decades. According to Laqueur (2002), the original
terrorism has emerged in many different forms such as in religious movements, political
revolts as well as social uprisings. He further claims that one good example of the earliest
terrorism was during the period of the French Revolution in the 1790s and it was somehow a
synonym for reign of terror.
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The term terrorism has no precise or widely accepted definition. Brinkly (1988)
says that if one person claims himself as freedom fighter, other people may label him as
terrorist. He illustrates what happened at the end of World War II, when Great Britain still
held a power over Palestine, many Israels guerillas promoted warfare against the British,
they attacked top British military officers on the street under the directive of Yitzhak Shamir,
and this was considered by others as terrorism. Haberman (1992) on the other hand points out
that many Israeli news articles refer to Palestinians as terrorists, regardless of the target of the
attacks, either the armies or civilians.
Media And Terrorism
There are several views on the role of media in relation to terrorism. Media
sometimes are known as the main agent in transmitting messages to society on the danger of
terrorism. According to Mc Quail (1995), in certain conditions, media can help the
government dealing with terror issues by giving a negative label or name to terrorist groups
and generating some panic situations to terrorists through the information spread. Lowenthal
(1989) claims that without the collaboration of the media, terrorism would be impotent. By
dramatizing the terrorist threats and demands and by refusing to condemn them outright, the
media often contribute to the moral confusion which tends to romanticize the terrorist and
leave his victim forgotten.
Despite all contributions made by the media in creating awareness of the danger of
terrorism which then leads to having a sense of hatred among society, media are said to be
able to give publicity as well as legitimacy to certain terrorist political agenda due to some
failures made by the government (Mc Quails, 1995). Researchers on terrorism believe that
one of the reasons of any terror acts or sabotage done by terrorists is for publicity or to attract
societys attention. According to Simonsen & Spindlove (2000), the media give negative
effect on handling terrorism even though a government does some filtrations in selecting
information for neutralization purpose.
Based on this role, Winegar (2008) claims that all parties namely the government and
terrorists seemed to work hard to have a good relationship with the media. Should the media
refuse, they will experience harmful effects; the government may implement any hindrance
such as some strict filtrations of any information disseminated by the media while allowing
only information on terrorism provided by the government itself. Hence, Hashim (2009)
stresses out that media and terrorism related issues are always perceived from three aspects;
terrorists objectives on media, governments objectives on media and medias own
objectives on related incidents linked to terrorism.
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Media Labelling On Islam

According to Orbe & Harris (2008), after the September 11 incident, terrorist labeling
has been identified as Muslim fundamentalists or Islamists which has increased some
prejudices, discriminations against and attacks on Muslims or Middle East. In fact, some
labels given are extremely outrageous such as uncivilized and barbaric.
Media labeling is not something segregated from the agenda of certain countries or an
opposing ideology. Peter Drucker (in Laqueur, 2002) a famous scholar in the US
management in his famous book that talks about post-modern world, once stressed out that
the next threats after the downfall of the Soviet on the development of capitalism are the
attacks made by suicide bombers which somehow directs towards Islam, because there are
many Muslim activities especially from targeted groups that apply suicide bombing method
as a revenge against discrimination made by the West over Muslims. Wright & Beliaev
(1991) claim that the relationship between religion and violence labeled in the media is, in
fact, not new. Some media label religion and terrorism with holy wars and inquisitions. The
words assassin, zealot and thug are used to project some fanatic groups within
respectively Islam, Judaism and Hinduism. Later, Wright and Beliaev addressed Muslim
terrorists as Muslim fanatics who involved in series of bombings and assassinations,
particularly in the Middle East during the 80s.
Therefore, labeling in associating terrorism with Islam is not something new. Based
on a number of literatures which relate to media and terrorism, the main labels that focused
on Islam which had been long utilized by either a country or its media are as follows:
1) Muslim leaders and public figures such as Gaddafi, Yasser Arafat and Khomeini
are violently bad. Khomeini had been once labeled as cruel as Adolf Hitler.
2) Islamic movements led by figures like Abu al-Ala Mawdudi are regarded as
militants and been associated with violence especially when elements of jihad
(crusade) is practiced in these movements.
3) Muslim countries with advanced weapon development are always considered as
threats by the western media. These media always portray bad consequences may
be encountered by the world if such a development is allowed to happen. For
instance, the uranium project by Iran has been reported in most of the international
media as a military strategy of Iran against the US.
4) The main profiles that are labeled as terrorists always have been among Muslims.
Currently, Osama bin Laden and the Iranian President Ahmadinejad are claimed
to be militants who can create chaos.
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5) The existence of political movements in countries like Afghanistan, Chechnya,

Palestine and Iraq which are militant in nature has caused all Muslims worldwide
to be also labeled by western media as terrorists.
6) The term fundamentalism, which originally exists in all religions either in
Judaism, Christianity or Islam, now belongs to Islam especially to Muslims who
intend to hold the absolute teachings of Islam and reject the idea of secularism.
Consequently, few other related terms that are militant and radical in nature have
been addressed to Muslims like Islamic fundamentalist and Islamic radicals.
7) The struggle for independence such as in Palestine is portrayed as a terrorist
movement. One of the examples is when CNN displays Islam as connected with
terrorism in its program entitled Trauma or Terror that shows the bitterness
faced by Israelis due to the struck made by Palestinians (Latheef, 2006).
8) International media also show Islam as the next threat after the downfall of the
Soviet Union. One of the Muslim journalists wrote: Now that the Soviet Union,
which former President Ronald Reagan described as an evil empire, is no more,
they picked on the Muslims and initially started a sinister media campaign
projecting Muslims as violent people before openly branding them as terrorists
and subsequently, the West triggered off military conflicts in different parts of the
Muslim world.(Latheef, 2006).
9) Besides the organizations or political movements are labeled as terrorists, there
are also Muslim countries namely Syria, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Sudan and obviously
Palestine, that are being promoted by the media as supporters of violence.
10) Some of the statements made by Western leaders, especially the US president and
published in international media about the need to revamp education syllabus in
the Al-Azhar University, in Egypt has shown a sense of prejudice against Islam.
11) Many of the western media display images of veiled or purdah-adorned Muslim
women with terrorist issues although those pictures originally are devoid of any
terrorist connection.
12) The publications of some cartoons that humiliate Islam and Prophet Muhammad
as well as the misinterpretation of some verses from the Koran by Gilders
published in some of the media have directly linked Islam with terrorism.
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Theory Of Framing
There is a relationship between news coverage and the media agenda, and a theory
that comes into place is a theory of framing. Frame is defined by Tankard & Severin (2001)
as an idea arrangement for news contents that provide context and suggestion of what issues
that need to be given extra attention through selection, pressure, no involvement and
elaboration. Theoretical foundation of framing theory asserts that the media tell people both
what is important in the world around them and how to think about the events and people
who inhabit that world (Brown, 2002). Framing is based on the assumption that how an issue
is characterized in news reports can have an influence over how it is comprehended by
audiences (Scheufele & Tewksbury, 2007). Framing theory in the context of agenda setting
is a process through media pressure towards certain definite aspects while displaying other
aspects as well. Framing exists through observation to certain subtopics ranging from size,
space for story items, narrative presentation or intonation and depth of media coverage
(Miller, 2000).
Watson and Hill (2000) defined framing as a process by which the media place reality
into frame. These scholars added that framing consists of a narrative device and therefore
whatever that is not on the page of a newspaper or news magazine is considered out of
frame. While Gitlin (1980) on the other hand explained that news frame allow audiences to
manage and comprehend reality and choose appropriate repertoires of cognition and action.
But framing devices are also the ways journalists and editors routinely organize news
discourse. Gitlin further contended that these framing devices are persistent patterns of
cognition, interpretation, and presentation, of selection, emphasis and exclusion (Gitlin,
1980).
This shows that media do not only determine the agenda for what issues or events, but
what is so called transferring the salience of attributes specifically related to potential objects
that may get interesting. The term salience implies that frames make certain aspects of news
issues more memorable, noticeable, or meaningful to audiences (Entman, 1993).
Theoretically, this study is going to look into the role of media in labeling Islam and
terrorism based on the agenda setting theory, that is the framing theory and this theory will be
applied throughout this research to see on how the media set the agenda in labeling Islam
with terrorism.
Methodology
This study applied a content analysis as the research methodology in collecting,
coding and analyzing the data. There are two divisions of sampling procedures; sampling for
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printed media selected and sampling for related articles in the selected media. The selection
of the printed media to be analyzed is based on purposive sampling. They consist of two
international news magazines namely The Economist from the UK and TIME from the US
while the selection of articles based on the indicators provided in previous research (Hashim,
2009). The time frame of the study is just two months in which issues selected for both
magazines are from the first issue after the death of Osama Bin Laden, until two months after
that. Thus, the dates of the issues chosen for the analysis started from the second week of
May 2011 issue until the final week of June 2011 issue.
These news magazines were selected for a number of reasons; first the United States
is a major superpower and an important player in the role of framing Islam and labeling it
with terrorism, particularly after the September 11 attacks. US also represent the supremacy
of the western world in terms of social, political and military and their media have been made
as reference by other countries. United Kingdom is selected due to its status as an economic
power and holding strong political position particularly in the European region. With its long
historical relationship with Islam and Muslim countries especially in the Middle East
throughout 18th and 19th century, its media would have a unique dimension of the
representation of Islam. All these news magazines are considered elite magazines in each
own country and are among the largest media outlets in terms of circulation. They are leading
newspapers with regard to the coverage of international news and views, drawing readers
from around the world.
The researchers have selected articles that touched on issues either directly or
indirectly related to Islam and some news items such as frequency of news types, frequency
of news coverage and presentation of visuals have been selected to be the measurements in
measuring the variables.
Findings And Discussions
This particular part displays the details of the findings of this study. The researchers
have analyzed 109 news articles both from Time and The Economist. The results from the
entire collected news articles are based on the categories in the coding sheet. The findings
have been discussed comprehensively in the sub topics provided as below.
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Section
Asia
Middle East
Leaders
Europe
Briefing
The World
World
Essay
Not Stated
Others
Table 1: Sections of News

Frequency
9
23
6
4
4
4
27
2
4
26
109
Percent
8.26
21.10
5.50
3.67
3.67
3.67
24.77
1.84
3.67
23.85
100
Table 1 above shows the sections of the magazine where the articles selected belong
to. The researchers have identified 10 sections in which most of the articles related to Islam
are located. Based on the table above, World section is the most popular which constitutes
27 articles (24.77%). The second highest is others section which constitutes 26 articles
(23.85%). Most of the articles located in others sections such as in Britain, Lexington,
Obituary, Books and Arts, International and others. However, Middle East section
constitutes 23 articles or 21.10%. The table above showed that Europe, Briefing, The
World and Not Stated sections are in same percentage which is 3.67%.
Table 2: Size of Headline
Size of Headline (Class cm2)
Frequency
1-14
81
15-29
9
30-44
5
45-59
4
60-74
5
75-89
1
90-104
0
105-119
1
106
Percent
76.41
8.5
4.72
3.77
4.72
0.94
0
0.94
100
In the aspect of size, Shafiee, Ngu & Raman (2009) state that size of headlines gives
impact to the news. It shows that the bigger the headline, the more important the news will
be. Besides that, bigger headline will become one of the factors to attract the readers. The
measurement of the size of headline is calculated in centimeters square (cm2). According to
Shafiee et al. (2009) they categorized size of the headlines into three categories which are
1cm2-20cm2, 21cm2-40cm2 and 41cm2 or more. For this study, the researchers listed eight
size measurements using Class Interval Formula; 1-14cm2, 15-29cm2, 30-44cm2, 45-59cm2,
60-74cm2, 75-89cm2, 90-104cm2 and 105-119cm2.
Based on the table above, it shows that most of the headlines size for both magazines
is within size 1-14cm2 which constitutes 76.41%. The second highest size of headline used
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for both magazines is within size 15-29cm2 which constitutes 8.5%. Meanwhile, there is no
headline used within size 90-104cm2.
Size of News (Class cm2)
12-304
305-597
598-890
891-1183
1184-1476
1477-1769
1770-2062
2063-2355
Table 3: Size of News

Frequency
61
33
5
4
2
0
3
1
109
Percent
55.97
30.28
4.58
3.67
1.83
0
2.76
0.91
100
Size of news is important to determine the impact of the news. Normally, the bigger
news will receive higher attention and able to attract readers. The researcher used Class
Interval Formula to categorize the size of news. A total of eight size measurements of news
have been determined. The researchers listed eight size measurements using Class Interval
Formula;
12-304cm2, 305-597cm2, 598-890cm2, 891-1183cm2, 1184-1476cm2, 1477-
1769cm2, 1770-2062cm2 and 2063-2355cm2.

Based on the table above, it shows that the majority of the news were within size of
12-304cm2 which constitutes 55.97%. However, there are news within size 1184-1476cm2
which constitutes 1.83%, 1770-2062cm2 which constitutes 2.76% and 2063-2355cm2 which
constitutes 0.91%. All the news in that size is in feature form and all of them are in three to
five pages.
Table 4: News With or Without Picture
Picture
Frequency
News with picture
92
News without picture
17
109
Percent
84.40
15.60
100
According to Noor Mayudia et al. (2010), pictures explain better than words and at
the same time play an important role in convincing the readers about a particular issue.
Looking at these facts, the researchers decided to study the photos that were featured along
with selected articles.
Firstly, the researchers studied whether the news came together with photos or stand
alone. Based on the findings, there are 92 (84.4%) news articles came together with photos.
This situation showed that the editors wanted to emphasize and highlight the news articles
show their importance. Meanwhile, only 17 news (15.60%) were without photos. This
situation is probably due to the limited column they had in a particular day and also to
emphasize on the text rather than images.
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Types of News
Hard News
Feature
Opinion Column
List/Point Only
Brief
Book Summary
Table 5: Types of News

Frequency
22
43
8
5
30
1
109
Percent
20.2
39.44
7.34
4.59
27.52
0.92
100
For this study, the researchers have listed six types of news to be studied namely; hard
news, feature, opinion column, list/point only, brief and book summary. The different types
of news articles show how the news is written. Based on the table, above it is shown that
feature dominated the types of news. Most of the features located in both magazines were in
two to five pages long. This situation showed that that particular issue is so important to be
discussed. The second highest is brief type which constitutes 30 news articles or 27.52%.
Brief news can be defined as small news located at the right of news magazines and gives
only simple explanation within the size range of 25 centimeters square. According to Stovall
(2008) brevity in the news needs the careful process of writing and editing. He added that
brevity requires journalists to cut out unnecessary words to produce simple and concise news.
The third highest type was hard news. Based on the table above it shows that there are 22
(20.2%) news articles can be categorized as hard news where it gives detailed explanations
pertaining to the particular issue.
Theme of News
Terrorism
War
Fight
Crime
Politics
Law and Policy
Peace Effort
Riot /Unrest
Others
Table 6: Theme of News

Frequency
16
24
7
13
11
1
9
4
24
109
Percent
14.68
22.02
6.42
11.94
10.09
0.92
8.25
3.66
22.02
100
For this study, the researchers used emergent coding and have explored seven themes
namely; politics, terrorism, criminality or violence, peace effort, education, discrimination
and others. War and others have dominated the theme of news which constitutes 24
(22.02%) news. The researchers defined war theme as the news articles which told about the
war between two parties. Meanwhile, examples of others category are such as Islamic
sectarian issue, leadership, social problems and many more. The second popular theme of
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news is terrorism. Based on the table it shows that terrorism category dominates 16 news
articles (14.68%) in which they were most located in special report about the death of Osama
Bin Laden. However, only one (0.92%) news article in both magazines was categorized under
law and policy theme.
Table 7: Portrayal of News
Portrayal of News
Frequency
Directly related to Islam
54
Somehow related to Islam
37
Not directly related to Islam
18
109
Percent
49.54
33.94
16.52
100
The researchers have listed three categories to explain the portrayal of news which are
directly related to Islam, somehow related to Islam and not directly related to Islam. Based on
the table above, there are 54 news article (49.54%) were directly related to Islam. For
example, the news mentioned clearly about Islam and Muslim issue for more than three
times. The table above also showed that there are 37 news articles (33.94%) which somehow
related to Islam. This situation happens when the news only mention about Islam and Muslim
issue not more than two times. Based on the table above, it shows that there are 18 news
articles (16.52%) are not directly related to Islam and Muslim issues. Most of the news is
categorized under politics theme where they only mention the name of Muslim leaders, the
place such as Middle East countries and others.
Parts of the World
Middle East
Asia
Europe
North America
Table 8: Parts of the World

Frequency
101
1
1
6
109
Percent
92.66
0.92
0.92
5.50
100
Table above shows the parts or regions of the world. For this study, the researchers
have identified four regions of the world which would have the most news coverage. Based
on the table, it shows that Middle East countries dominate the news article. This is because in
The Economist, it has its own column namely the Middle East and Africa, so, Middle East
contributes most of the news discussed in both magazines. Another reason is because Middle
East countries such as Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain and many more involved in a so called
Arab Spring issue after the death of Osama Bin Laden. According to Noor Mayudia (2010),
Middle East is a region where Islam dominates and mostly related to the conflict issue. She
added that, the conflict between Israel and Palestine have dominated the world for more than
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five decades. Therefore, based on 109 news articles analyzed, 101 articles are based on what
happened in Middle East countries.
Tone of News
Positive towards Islam
Negative towards Islam
Neutral
Table 9: Tone of News

Frequency
14
56
39
109
Percent
12.84
51.38
35.78
100
The last part of this study is to find the tone of the news. Thus, the researchers have
categorized the news into three main categories; positive towards Islam, negative towards
Islam or neutral. A total of 109 news was analyzed and the data showed that only 14
(12.84%) news was positive towards Islam. It means that very few news articles published by
both magazines portrayed Islam and Muslims in a positive way and gave the good image of
Islam in the eyes of people from the West. Most of the news categorized under the positive
news is pertaining to the issue of reconciliation and peace effort issue. Meanwhile, the
negative issue towards Islam dominated the highest percentage which constitutes 56 news
articles (51.38%). The negative news was pertaining to Osama bin Laden, conflict between
Palestine and Israel, protest, riots and others where all the news associate with Islam and
Muslim. Based on the table, there are 39 news articles (35.78%) which is located under
neutral. The researchers identified that all 39 news article did not mention anything positive
or negative about Islam and Muslim.
The Use of Frames by Time and The Economist:
This study was also interested in the most common frames used by the selected news
magazines in associating Islam or Muslim with terrorism and to observe if there were
variations in the use of frames between different news magazines. The researchers have
found that from all the articles examined, there are three common negative frames and one
positive frame.
Framing 1: Islam Caused Violent
Based on the data from both international magazines which are Time and The
Economist, they were clearly reported articles mainly portrayed Islam caused violent such as
chaos, riot, kill, attack, war and etc. For example, as reported in The Economist on the issue
May 7th-13th 2011, stated:
Al Qaeda is still active, even without Mr bin Laden. The alarming problems of
Pakistan, Yemen and so many other places threaten to feed more violence. (Extract from the
title: Now, kill his dream, pg 9)
In Time, May 20, 2011:
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At first glance, the 9/11 assault looked like a stunning win for al-Qaeda, a ragtag
band of jihadists who had bloodied the nose of the worlds only superpower. But on closer
look it became something far less significant, because the attacks on Washington and New
York City did not achieve bin Ladens key strategic goal: the withdrawal of the U.S. from the
Middle East, which he imagined would lead to the collapse of all the American-backed
authoritarian regimes in the region. (Extract from the title: A Long Time Going, pg 40)
Framing 2: Muslims are terrorists
The researchers have found that another use of frame in which the media seemed to
frame Muslims as terrorists and this can be illustrated from Time on May 20, 2011:
Bin Laden took up residence soon after the compound was finished. Perhaps he
knew of other terrorists in the area. Earlier this year, Umar Patek, an Indonesian linked to
the 2002 al-Qaeda bombing in Bali, was arrested at the home of an Abbottabad retiree.
(Extract from the title: Death comes for the terrorist, pg 17)
The Economist July 16th-22th, 2011:
Fingers could be pointed at jihadists based over the border, notably Lashkar-eTaiba (LET) which was behind the 2008 attack and others. Pakistanis militants had vowed
revenge on America and its allies for killing Osama bin Laden in May. (Extract from the
title: Terror again, pg 26)
Framing 3: Leadership in Muslim countries is in catastrophe
The next use of frame is in which Muslim countries are always labeled as in chaos
and this can be found in The Economist, 16th 22th July 2011:
If both the Qaddafi and Assad families fell, the Arab spring would turn to summer.
Plenty of reverses and confusion would ensue-though violent extremists, including Islamists,
have not been prominent in the revolutions. The idea of letting Islamists, some of them antidemocratic, contest elections understandably make people nervous.(Extract from the title: It
can still come right, pg 12)
Such a frame can also be found in Time, June 20, 2011:
President Abdullah Ali Saleh, an autocrat facing the greatest challenge to his threedecade-long rule, left the country for treatment in Saudi Arabia after sustaining injuries
during a rocket attack on his palace compound. His departure was greeted with boisterous
street celebrations in the capital, Sanaa. But Saleh loyalists claim the President will return,
and the Saudis, who have spearheaded weeks of backroom negotiations between the Saleh
regime and its opponents, insist the visit was purely for medical reasons. If Saleh steps down,
118
there are concerns over what may follow. Yemen is a poor nation whose political and tribal
divisions were co-opted and suppressed by Salehs iron rule.
(Extract from the title: Salehs out, but is it for good?, pg 36)
Framing 4: Peace and reconciliation efforts between Palestine and Israel
However, there are also some of the articles covered the issue to encourage
understanding and resolution with Muslim countries. As stated in The Economist, May 7 th
13th, 2011:
The Hamas-Fatah deal is good news, because peace between Palestinians could be
a stepping stone on the road to peace with Israel. (Title: Nudge it along, pg 10)
The Time magazine as on June 13, 2011, also frame the positive reconciliation
between Palestine and Israel:
Since 2006 the Gaza Strip has been sealed off from the world-its borders tightly
controlled by an Israeli government wary of Gazas rulers, the Islamist outfit Hamas. But on
May 29, Egypt loosened Israelis grip on Gaza by lifting the restrictions on Palestinians
seeking to cross from Gaza to Egypt (Title: Egypt opens the door to Gaza, pg: 22)
Conclusion
The study on two western news magazines found out that although there were claims
made by the West that the world will be in peace and Muslims are not terrorists without
Osama bin Laden, the coverage made by the media selected showed that there are still some
negative labeling made towards Islam in association with terrorism. This is clearly shown in
the findings where most of the coverage on issues related to Islam revolves around war and
terrorism. Most news covered come from the Middle East countries, where Islam and
Muslims are very dominant. This place is also a place for some so called Islamist groups such
as Al-Qaeda and Hamas. Talking about the tone of the news, the researchers found that these
media are still biased against Islam despite the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
With most of the news are of the hard type news, it is believed that the western media
are still feeding the International readers with a negative perception towards Islam as a whole
despite very little coverage on the reconciliation efforts made for Islam and the West. This
paper is thus hoped to be as guidelines for future journalists in portraying a more fair issue
concerning to Islam and Muslims. As Islam is a religion of peace, it is expected that Islam is
not being framed as such and Muslims in general are not represented negatively despite the
involvement of certain Islamist groups in so called terrorism.
119
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European Scientific Journal March 2013 edition vol.9, No.

8 ISSN: 1857 7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857- 7431

THE FRAMING OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ON ISLAM

Sofia Hayati Yusof, MA

Md Salleh Hassan, PhD

Media Labelling On Islam

5) The existence of political movements in countries like Afghanistan, Chechnya,

Table 1: Sections of News

Table 3: Size of News

12-304cm2, 305-597cm2, 598-890cm2, 891-1183cm2, 1184-1476cm2, 1477-

1769cm2, 1770-2062cm2 and 2063-2355cm2.

Table 5: Types of News

Table 6: Theme of News

Table 8: Parts of the World

Table 9: Tone of News

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